Meridian Energy Limited 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting

MERIDIAN ENERGY ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING – 18 OCTOBER 2022
CHAIR ADDRESS
Slide 3:
I will now move to my own address, and I will begin by introducing the Meridian Board and some of
the Management Team.
Slide 4:
•M
eridian Board Members present today are: Michelle Henderson, Jan Dawson, Mark Cairns,
Julia Hoare, Nagaja Sanatkumar, Graham Cockroft and Tania Simpson.
•I
’d also like to introduce our Company Secretary Jason Woolley who is also seated on stage.
•And with me today is Chief Executive Neal Barclay. You will also hear from Neal shortly.
Slide 5:
M
eridian’s purpose of clean energy for a fairer and healthier world has become increasingly
important as we take action to support the transition to a lower carbon country and become a
vibrant contributor to a net zero world.
As Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest 100% renewable energy company, we are conscious we have a
leading role to play in decarbonising our economy.
Th
is means that we need to take actions that make a material difference to our climate and our
economy and our customers, including delivering on our ambition to execute on our renewable
development pipeline. And in the work, we do, we must move forward in strong partnership with
mana whenua and support our customers and the communities we serve. And where we can make a
difference, we will take the action required.
W
hilst we are conscious that we compete fiercely with sector peers, it is also important for the
whole energy sector - generators, retailers, distribution, and transmission companies, along with
regulators and Government - to come together and cooperate to achieve the necessary outcomes.
The challenge is significant and none of us can achieve the outcome alone. The assets required to
further electrify New Zealand are long life assets that take a number of years to develop, get
consented and built, so it is important we move with pace now.
This year we have made great strides in supporting our commercial and industrial customers to
electrify, and we have provided energy solutions for our customers and invested in infrastructure to
support the growth of electric vehicles. We’ve also made good progress in our work with Contact
Energy to advance the Southern Green Hydrogen project.
However, we know that there is more that we must do to truly help combat climate change. Given
our size and scale, we know we can, and we must play a meaningful role in the energy transition and
support New Zealand to thrive in a net zero future.
Slide 6:

And to make sure that we are focused on what we need to achieve, we have developed, and this
year published our own Climate Action Plan, by which we will hold ourselves to account.

Our priorities to reduce our own emissions are focused around areas where we believe we can make
a meaningful difference. This includes our Half by 2030 programme, where we have committed to
halving our gross operational emissions by 2030 from the 2021 base.

Where we cannot reduce operational emissions right now, we’re offsetting using Gold Standard
Verified Emissions Reductions. Our Forever Forests programme, in which we’ve committed to
planting 1.5 million trees by 2030, will act as a carbon sink for those emissions we cannot take out of
our operations. This will leave a native forest legacy, which brings broader environmental and
biodiversity benefits. And as I mentioned earlier, we’re helping our customers transition away from
fossil fuels by helping and investing with them to increase their use of renewable energy.

We are also sharply focussed on significantly increasing the amount of renewable energy, and
therefore renewable developments that are required to support the country to thrive in a net zero
emissions world.

At Meridian, we know that if we do our share of the heavy lifting in the energy transition, will need
to build the equivalent of around 20 Harapaki-sized wind farms (or around 176 MWs) in the next 28
years. So, we need to pick up the pace and to build momentum, we’ve tasked our team with
achieving an ambitious 7 new renewable projects of scale aspiration in the next 7 years.

We do have a range of renewable development options in front of us, including wind, solar and grid-
scale batteries to help us achieve our goals.

Slide 7:

Our decision to sell our Australian business (Meridian Energy Australia) during the year also signalled
a strategic shift to focus our future investments back into this country. The growth potential in our
domestic market is huge.

We were pleased with the outcome of the sale process and note that this latest venture into
Australia was successful for shareholders yielding a profit on sale of $214 million and total proceeds
of more than $750 million. These proceeds have been retained to cash and applied in the
repayment of short-term debt to strengthen our balance sheet and provide future capacity to
further invest in New Zealand’s decarbonisation future.

Slide 8:

And on that point, it is worth pointing out that the required investment in new renewable
generation to get this country to net zero in 2050, in today’s dollars, is at least $30 billion.

Add to that the required investment in transmission and local distribution networks, the overall
capital budget for the country is huge. That investment will have to be paid for - whether by way of
private or public funds and we will all end up paying for it - as customers and taxpayers most likely.
However, aside from the climate aspect there is another prize.

While the investment required is considerable, ultimately electrification of more services,
particularly personal transport, is likely to end up resulting in lower overall household energy bills,
due to transport fuel savings. It’s also worth noting that, electricity market regulatory settings have

kept us in good stead to date. The facts are that after adjusting for inflation, the unit cost of
electricity kiwi households pay is lower now than in any time in the last 10 years. Few, if any, other
countries can say that so we would argue it would be better to keep market settings as close as
possible to those that apply today.

We remain conscious, nevertheless, that many of our customers are facing significant cost of living
increases, making it harder to make ends meet.

We continue to offer energy wellbeing support for our most vulnerable customers and Level Pay for
those wishing to manage their energy bills evenly throughout the year. This year we also
commenced an Energy Wellbeing pilot. This is a programme looking at reducing the impact of the
four key drivers of energy hardship on our most vulnerable customers – that is financial, housing
quality, energy supply and energy efficiency. We’re pleased with the impact, and we are building
the knowledge of in-house energy wellbeing specialists and partners, to look at the whole picture for
individual customers. And to support them to progress up the energy wellbeing spectrum.

Our sponsorship of KidsCan is another means for us to support people suffering financial hardship by
providing kiwi kids in poverty a leg up to support them getting an education. Two years ago, we
increased the contribution we make to KidsCan to $1 million per year and have assisted KidsCan to
electrify their vehicle fleet. We’re proud of the difference that this funding support makes to under-
privileged children.


Slide 9:

Meridian also continues to plan for a possible exit of New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter (or NZAS)
from Southland in 2024. Whilst we are aware that NZAS has publicly said that it is reconsidering its
position, whether they stay or go remains uncertain.

The proposed closure of the smelter has created a generational opportunity and has seen Meridian
increase momentum in terms of our development pipeline and the Southern Green Hydrogen
Project. We’ve done what we can to minimise the disruption to the local economy, negotiating an
‘extended exit’ deal that encouraged this large regional employer to stay on for three years longer
than it had proposed. That deal bought the electricity sector time to enhance the transmission
network in the lower South Island and we are grateful to Transpower who’ve completed this work.
The deal also enabled us to explore innovative arrangements with emerging industries that will
change where and how our generation capacity is utilised. It also bought time for NZAS to work on
an environmental mitigation plan and business model.

Slide 10:

We were pleased to see the Government largely adopting the Climate Change Commission’s
recommendations and setting in place the country’s first Emissions Reduction Plan with the first
three carbon budgets. Globally we see carbon prices lifting.

We continue to advocate for an effective and all-encompassing emissions trading scheme to support
New Zealand’s decarbonisation journey, but we also recognise well targeted policy support will help
build momentum. We’re keenly looking forward to participating (along with the rest of the sector
and the public) in the development of the New Zealand energy strategy, knowing that the regulatory
and policy environment will be a key factor in reaching zero emissions in 2050.

As I have already mentioned, a massive amount of investment in electricity infrastructure will need
to take place in the next 30 years. In that context, it’s critical that the resource management
framework appropriately allows consenting authorities to balance localised environmental impacts
and mitigations associated with renewable electricity projects with the positive climate benefits
those projects bring. The new framework for consenting is emerging through various consultations
and we are engaging with the relevant Ministers and Officials to ensure a balanced approach is part
of the new Resource Management framework before it comes into force in 2023.

Slide 11:

Our Board is now more diverse than it has ever been and has the relevant capabilities to oversee
Meridian’s strategy and guide the business through the decisions that lie ahead. The appointment of
Tania Simpson, in particular, will help us grow our iwi relationships.

In July this year we appointed Graham Cockroft to the board as a Non-Executive Director. Graham
brings a strong finance and energy industry background to the Board and will complement this
Board’s skills and expertise. Graham, who will be seeking your support for election later in this
meeting, joins us following the retirement of longstanding Director Jan Dawson, whose term will
conclude at this meeting. Jan has made an outstanding contribution to Meridian over the past
decade. We will be sorry to see her retire and wish her well. We’ve also had changes to our
executive team that Neal will touch on shortly.


Slide 12:

I’ll finish by making some observations on the Company’s financial performance for the year ended
30 June 2022. We believe the result was strong and it exceeded our expectations, despite
challenging hydro conditions in the Waiau catchment earlier in the year.

The Board has declared a final ordinary dividend of 11.55 cents per share, up 3% from the previous
year. This brings the total ordinary dividends declared in FY22 to 17.40 cents per share, up 3% from
the previous year. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan remains available for those investors wishing to
take advantage of it.

Last week we published our September monthly operating report. The first quarter of the financial
year has seen higher generation and sales volumes than the same quarter last year.

With high winter rainfall, storage in the Waitaki catchment was nearly 200% of average at the end of
last month. As shareholders are aware, our results are influenced by variable weather conditions,
and we have a long way to go to the end of the Financial Year 23.

Although the many changes ahead of us can seem daunting, New Zealand is positioned uniquely in
global terms with a well-established renewable energy base – so the opportunity to accelerate our
progress is in sight. We are up for the challenge, and it is an exciting time for the sector. Our
response to decarbonisation must be nuanced, sensitive, intelligent and bold. The needs and
priorities of iwi, communities and customers must be assessed wisely, and our actions must work in
the best interests of this country and the world.

Before we move on, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our shareholders, your Board
appreciates your continued support. I will now ask our Chief Executive, Neal Barclay to address the
meeting.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW

Slide 13:

Kia ora Mark and Tena Koutou Katoa.
Ko Neal Barclay toku ingoa.

I’d like to start by quickly introducing you to Meridian’s Executive team, who are here with us
today.

They are:

Slide 14:

• Tania Palmer, General Manager of Generation
• Mike Roan, Chief Financial Officer
• Lisa Hannifin, Chief Customer Officer
• Guy Waipara, General Manager of Development
• Jason Woolley, General Counsel and Company Secretary.
• Claire Shaw, General Manager of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability
• Bharat Ratanpal, Chief Information Officer
• Chris Ewers, General Manager of Wholesale
• Jason Stein, is our Chief People Officer
• Nic Kennedy is our Chief Executive of Flux Federation

Both Jason and Nic are unable to be present at this meeting today.

We have a highly experienced, capable and well-established Executive Team at Meridian. But we
are always evolving, and we’ve made changes this year that I believe strengthen the team further.

Tania Palmer shifted from Chief People Officer to head up our Generation team. Her proven sector
experience, knowledge of safety systems and people leadership skills are well suited to leading that
part of the business.

Meanwhile, we managed to lure Jason Stein, who had been Chief Executive of our Australian
operations, back to this side of the Tasman and he took over the Chief People Officer role from
Tania. Jason will continue to focus on enhancing our safe and inclusive culture. Finally, our long-time
Chief Information Officer (CIO) Bharat Ratanpal has joined the Executive Team, adding his invaluable
technical skills to how we think about deploying technology to improve our customer propositions
and our business performance as well as protecting our technology systems.

It’s a sign of the diversity and breadth of the skills in our leadership ranks that we have been able to
make all these key appointments from within our existing talent pool.

Slide 15:

Our people, their safety and their wellbeing will always be front of mind for me.

Our reported injury rates are declining and fortunately none of the injuries suffered by people
working for us have had lasting impacts on their lives.

But our near miss reporting tells us that our risk exposure is still high.

We see this, most obviously, in relation to the Harapaki construction project. Harapaki is a
challenging work site and has experienced difficult construction conditions. So, I want to
acknowledge the massive safety focus our team has established at site.

I’d also like to call out the work we are doing supporting our people’s wellbeing. We have developed
a Care Team process that wraps support around people in our business who are struggling. Our aim
is to ensure they have the time and support necessary, to heal and return to work. Our Care Team
programme was recognised at this year’s Safeguard Awards as New Zealand’s best wellbeing
initiative.

Our overall level of staff engagement did slip during the year, but we understand where and why the
decline occurred, and we are working to address specific staff concerns. Meridian remains in the top
25% of large New Zealand employers, from a staff engagement perspective.

Slide 16:

In August, I was pleased to announce another solid financial result for the year ended 30 June 2022.
Whilst EBITDAF and underlying net profit after tax of $709m and $233m respectively, were only
marginally ahead of the prior year, we were pleased with the outcome as the operating conditions
were reasonably challenging during the year. In particular, we experienced a record setting drought
in the Waiau catchment that meant the Manapouri Power Station, the largest Power Station in New
Zealand that typically meets around 12% of New Zealand’s electricity needs, was barely idling during
March and April. That said, through the course of the whole year we achieved good electricity
generation numbers and we continued to grow our retail business, increasing our customer base by
more than 18,000 customers on the prior year.

As we’ve seen in previous years, all droughts eventually end, and we’ve had plenty of rain in our
catchments over the last few months. In fact, the rainfall into our South Island hydro catchments
this past winter was 18% higher than any previous winter on record. So, we are in a strong position
with Waitaki storage having peaked at nearly twice its average for this time of year. This bodes well
for the year to 30 June 2023.

The profit on sale of our Australian business is the result of the sound deployment of the core
capabilities developed in New Zealand and a lot of hard work for more than a decade. I’d especially
like to acknowledge the dedicated team of Aussies who worked in Meridian Energy Australia and
built the business into a very valuable entity. They also did an outstanding job supporting us
through the sale process. In many ways it was sad to pass that team to the new owners, but I know
they will continue to do a great job for Shell and ICG and continue to grow a successful renewable
led businesses in Australia.

Importantly, we plan to put the sales proceeds and our balance sheet to productive use and support
New Zealand’s imperative to achieve zero carbon by 2050. To reinforce Mark’s earlier comments,
the growth prospects for the electricity sector are huge. Over the next 30-odd years the forecast
growth in demand for electricity will require a sustained level of new renewable energy build that
will outstrip anything New Zealand has managed to achieve at any other point in our Country’s
history.

We need to build momentum and capacity in our business that will allow us to take advantage of the
expected growth. As a management team this is our most significant strategic challenge, and we are

serious about ramping up our efforts to achieve seven renewable energy projects in the next seven
years.


Slide 17:

The good news is we are getting on with it.

During July last year we commenced construction of the Harapaki wind farm in Hawke’s Bay. Our
Project Team encountered very challenging record-setting wet weather conditions during Spring and
Summer, but overall, the project remains on schedule. We’ve experienced some inflationary cost
pressures and have had to make some changes to the roading design due to sodden ground
conditions, so the forecast cost to complete has escalated by $53 million, or 13%. We’re still very
confident the project represents a sound investment for Meridian and much-needed renewable
generation for New Zealand, as it will power the equivalent of 70,000 Kiwi homes when complete.
We’ll start producing that power during 2023.

Slide 18:

Our development team has also been hard at it, building our portfolio of future generation
options. And we’re increasing our investment support for that team.

The Ruakākā Energy Park in Northland will be our next development. We have consent to build a
grid scale battery and we are presently tendering contracts. When I say grid scale, think of a battery
about the size of 4 Eden Park rugby fields – it’s big and it will be the first of its kind in this
country. We plan to commence build in 2023 and complete construction during 2024.

I’d love it to be sooner, as the electricity system is experiencing regular peak stress events during
winter months. A battery of this size will help alleviate those peak stresses by storing energy during
quiet periods of the day and then reinjecting it into the grid over the morning or evening peaks. This
battery will be able to power 60,000 homes for up to two hours. But as I’m sure you are all aware,
international supply chains are stretched, and we have work to do to manage cost escalations and
delivery time frames. We will, however, get it done. And we’ve also secured a second battery
option site at Bunnythorpe, near Palmerston North.

The Ruakākā Energy Park also includes a solar farm development and the consent application for
that is expected to be lodged in early 2023, with construction complete in early 2025. The solar farm
has an expected total capacity of more than 130MW and will create enough energy to power around
15,000 homes.

We’re also preparing to lodge the consent application for the Mt Munro wind farm in the Wairarapa
early next year. We expect that project to follow closely on the heels of the Ruakākā
developments.

Beyond that, we have a more sizeable pipeline of secured options and advanced prospects for
multiple solar and wind sites, mostly in the North Island. And we need more.

Alongside these new developments, we’ve been re-thinking how we use our renewable generation
assets to best effect. New Zealand currently generates around 80–85% of its electricity from
renewable sources (mostly hydro), supported by coal- and gas-fired generation as needed. But as
those fossil-fuel generators are phased out and replaced by wind, and solar and geothermal, we’ll

need to flex our hydro generation capability and storage differently from how we have in the past to
offset the intermittency inherent in wind and solar generation. It’s a new way of using our resources
that requires us to think long and hard about the way we manage the existing hydro lakes and the
timing of our maintenance schedules.


Slide 19:

Flexible demand will also become more valuable as a means of managing renewable intermittency.
That’s a key part of the value proposition of the large-scale green hydrogen production facility in
Southland that Meridian and Contact have been progressing.

Producing hydrogen from electrolysis is inherently flexible. If the hydrogen producer can reduce
production at times when the electricity system is stressed, for example, when there’s a seasonal
drought and hydro fuel availability is limited, the electricity it would have consumed can effectively
be reallocated to other energy consumers.

We believe this creates a win-win scenario. The hydrogen producer benefits by being recompensed
for forgone production, other electricity consumers benefit from more reliable, cost-effective
supply, and the environment benefits as there’s less need to produce carbon emissions from coal or
gas. This type of demand response is part of a wider discussion on how new, and potentially existing,
industry can align their energy requirements with the nation’s needs. If we can make such flexibility
commercially viable, that will deliver a very cost-efficient solution to help offset wind and solar
intermittency in the electricity system.

And overall, the Southern Green Hydrogen project is full steam ahead. We’re working with two
shortlisted parties – Fortescue Future Industries and Woodside. We expect to choose one party and
agree terms for the development stage of the project by the end of the year and reach a final
investment decision in 2024, with plant commissioning in 2027.

Green hydrogen is a tomorrow’s technology. Global growth projections are mind blowing. New
Zealand’s domestic projections for hydrogen demand are likely to exceed the capacity of Southern
Green Hydrogen by a few times. So, we see the project as creating a foundation toward energy
independence for our country as we wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

New Zealand’s transition to a more renewable system may not be entirely smooth, and the
Wholesale price for electricity is likely to be quite volatile at times as the demand and supply balance
evolves. We have seen that in the last few years where the price for wholesale electricity has
ramped up significantly from the long run average. But our view is, as new renewable infrastructure
gets built, over the long run we can expect to see prices reduce.

That’s probably cold comfort for large industrial customers, as the near-term challenging wholesale
conditions tend to feed through to their pricing quickly. Importantly though, electricity prices for
residential and small- and medium-sized business customers continue to trend below the rate of
inflation, and in real terms, they have been declining for more than a decade. All of the evidence
tells us strong competition is working for customers in the New Zealand electricity market.

Slide 20:

The performance of our Retail Business suggests that we thrive in that competitive
environment. Our dual brand Retail growth strategy has been hugely successful, and over the last

five years the Meridian and Powershop brands combined, have grown sales volumes by 56%. And,
as I mentioned earlier, we kept that momentum up this last year adding more than 18,000 new
customer accounts. Our retail growth has all come from hard-won market share gains and having
the best customer retention rates in the industry has helped deliver that outcome. But there is no
shortage of competition, and we are driven to continue to innovate and to lead.

We believe there is massive scope to add value to customers, and the system as a whole, by
providing innovative technology solutions beyond traditional electricity retailing. Accordingly, the
next evolution of our customer strategy is based around providing energy solutions that support
customers to reduce their total energy bill whilst also reducing their emissions.

Our Process Heat Electrification Programme has earmarked up to 600 gigawatt hours per annum, to
support customers to switch from coal or gas to electricity. In doing so we will help our customers
avoid pumping around 300,000 tonnes of C02 into the atmosphere every year, which is the
equivalent of removing about 150,000 cars off our roads.

And talking about cars, we’re making good progress deploying our public charging network. We
currently have 73 charging stations in 34 locations, making us the second largest provider of public
charging in New Zealand. And we have a further 119 charging stations committed and awaiting
construction.

We’re also establishing EV charging products for business and residential customers to make it as
simple as possible for kiwis to drive away from fossil fuels. In doing so they will save big time as the
average electric car costs the equivalent of around 30 cents per litre to run.

Our Certified Renewable Energy product has also enabled around 100 large business customers to
purchase more than 660GWh of Renewable Energy Certificates this year. This enables those
customers to legitimately reduce their scope 2 emissions and improve the sustainability and
marketing of their products.

Renewable Energy Certificates are of particular value to customers who are engaged in export
markets, as they reflect New Zealand’s competitive advantage inherent in our highly renewable
electricity system. Further, we’ve made a commitment to reinvest all the proceeds from our
Renewable Energy Certificates sales into new decarbonisation projects. Half will go to business
customers and half will go to community groups. An early example is our support for KidsCan who
will replace some of their petrol-powered vehicles with EVs.

In summary, by focussing our efforts in providing innovative energy solutions that support our
customers to decarbonise their homes and businesses, we can also save them money and grow the
value of our business – it’s a real win win.

To finish up, I’d like to thank you, our shareholders, for continuing to support Meridian. I’d like to
thank our Board, for their support, challenge and clear focus on creating long term value. And I’d
like to thank my management team and the broader Meridian whānau who are unwavering in their
efforts to deliver on our company purpose of clean energy for a fairer and healthier world. We’re
looking forward to embracing the challenges ahead and to continue to grow our business in a way
that supports our country’s net zero emissions goals.

Thank you.

---

2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting
18 OCTOBER 2022

Chair’s address
Chief Executive’s review
Shareholder questions
Resolutions and voting
Today’s business
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
2
Cover: planting the next phase of coastal forest on the KaitokePeninsula with Raglan Area SchoolPart of Meridian’s EV Zero electric vehicle charging network

3
Chair’s address
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Meridian’s Benmore hydro station in the South Island’s Waitaki District generates
enough electricity each year for about 298,000 average New Zealand homes

4
Our Board
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
NagajaSanatkumar
Julia Hoare
Graham Cockroft
Mark Cairns
Jan Dawson (ret.)Michelle Henderson
Mark VerbiestTania Simpson

5
Clean energy
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

6
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Climate Action Plan
Clim!"e Ac"ion Pl!n
Meridi!n’s purpose of Cle!n energy for ! f!irer !nd he!lthier world
is !t the centre of everything we do on our journey to net zero.
Our
purpose
Our
business
Our energy
gener!tion is from
100% renew!ble
sources through:
We !re continuing development of
• !ddition!l renew!ble energy gener!tion
• electrifying process he!t
• vehicle ch!rging infr!structure
• green hydrogen production
W!ter.Wind.Sun.
Our
priorities
* Meridi!n’s oper!tion!l emission bound!ry includes !ll scope 1, 2 !nd 3 c!tegories, excluding !ll one-time construction emissions from m!jor projects !nd !ll !ctivities th!t !re c!pit!lised !s p!rt of renew!ble energy projects. From our FY21 b!seline (excluding Meridi!n Austr!li!).
Where we c!n’t reduce our oper!tion!l emissions right now, we offset using Gold St!nd!rd Verified Emission Reductions !nd h!ve done since FY19.
Our
H!lf by 30
focus !re!s
L!nd Tr!nsportF!rmsFugitive emissions Air tr!velFerry !nd b!rgeW!ste
These priorities !lign with our commitment to contribute me!ningfully to the United N!tions (UN) Sust!in!ble Development Go!ls (SDGs)
where we c!n h!ve most imp!ct – such !s SDG13 Clim!te Action. See our Sust!in!bility Policy for further det!il.
This pl!n p!ves our w!y for future !ction !nd will be upd!ted !nnu!lly. Progress on initi!tives !nd t!rgets will be reviewed by the Meridi!n S!fety !nd Sust!in!bility Committee !nd !re !lso included in our Clim!te-rel!ted disclosures.
AUGUST 2022
Forever Forests
Our n!ture-b!sed
commitment to
emission remov!ls.
H!lf by 30
We !re focused on reducing
our gross oper!tion!l
emissions by h!lf by FY30
*
.
Helping customers !nd
Aote!ro! to dec!rbonise
Incre!sing consumption
of renew!ble electricity
through electrific!tion.
2030

§$750 million of sales proceeds
§$214 million gain on sale
§Proceeds used to repay short-term
debt and retained as cash
§Supports funding of future
investment in new New Zealand
generation
7
Meridian Energy Australia sale
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
1.1
1.2
1.5
1.4
1.5
1.6
0.8
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2016201720182019202020212022
$ Billion
Financial Year ended 30 June
Net debt
Source: Meridian

8
Aotearoa New Zealand’s renewable growth future
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
199720002003200620092012201520182021202420272030203320362039204220452048
TWh
Financial Year ended 30 June
Annual market demand for generation
Source: Meridian
history
range of future growth
NZ top 25% st!ff eng!gement,
improving injury r!te
2.5% incre!se in EBITDAF**
3% incre!se in ordin!ry dividend
C!rbon neutr!l, st!ble
oper!tion!l emissions
1.1 GW of secured
development options
$214 million g!in on s!le of Austr!li!
H!r!p!ki wind f!rm
on schedule
300 GWh* in MoU’s or contr!cted
for South Isl!nd process he!t
6% customer s!les volume growth
* 1250 GWh in Memor!ndums of Underst!nding, 50 GWh contr!cted (!nnu!l volumes)
** E!rnings before interest, t!x, depreci!tion, !mortis!tion, ch!nges in f!ir v!lue of hedges, imp!irments !nd g!ins or losses on s!le of !ssets
20 in 28
$30+
billion of
new
generation
investment

9
New Zealand’s AluminiumSmelter possible exit
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point, Southland

§Three emissions budgets that set out
the total amount of emissions New
Zealand must cut over the next 14
years
§Three further budgets will follow with
target emissions levels out to 2050
§Will require significant electrification
of transport and industrial process
heat
10
Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
79.579.5
72.5
61.0
48.0
0
20
40
60
80
100
2014-172018-212022-252026-302031-35
Mt CO2-e
Average annual emissions
Source: Stats NZ, Aotearoa New Zealand’s First Emissions Reduction Plan
2014-17
Emissions Reduction Plan
2018-21

§Tania Simpson elected as a Director
a year ago
§Graham Cockroftappointed as a
Director in July 2022 and standing for
election at this meeting
§Jan Dawson retiring today after 10
years as a Director
11
Board changes
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

12
2022 financial performance
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
14.32
16.42
16.9016.90
17.40
4.88
4.88
2.44
0
5
10
15
20
25
20182019202020212022
Cents per share
Financial Year ended 30 June
Total dividends declared
Ordinary dividendsSpecial dividends
15%
60%
10%
12%
-8%
18%
19%
9%11%
-14%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
20182019202020212022
Financial Year ended 30 June
Total shareholder return
1
Meridian TSRNZX50 Index
Source: MeridianSource: Meridian, Refinitiv
1
share price change plus gross dividend yield

13
Chief Executive’s review
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

14
Executive team
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Neal Barclay
Tania PalmerMike Roan
Lisa Hannifin
Guy Waipara
Jason Woolley
Claire Shaw
Jason SteinNic Kennedy
Chris Ewers
Bharat Ratanpal

78%
85%
80%
74%
72%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
FY19FY20May-21Nov-21May-22
Employee engagement
15
Employee engagement and injury rates
Source: MeridianSource: Meridian
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
1.7
4.2
3.4
8.0
4.3
13.6
15.0
7.4
9.1
11.8
0
3
6
9
12
15
20182019202020212022
Per million hours
Financial year ended 30 June
Lost time injury frequency rate
Meridian employees
Meridian on -site co ntract ors

621622
774
787
692
709
0
200
400
600
800
1, 000
201720182019202020212022
$M
Financial Year ended 30 June
EBITDAF
1
16
2022 earnings
1
Earnings from continuing operations before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, changes in fair value of hedges, impairments and gains or losses on sale of assets
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Source: Meridian

17
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Harapakiwind farm – Hawke’s Bay
§$448m capital costs
§To power the equivalent of 70,000 homes
§Local iwi are integral part of our team
§Sustainability focus to design out emissions
Site development at Meridian’s Harapakiwind farm, Hawke’s Bay, mid-2022

18
Meridian’s renewable development pipeline
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
§Deep pipeline of 2.3 GW (5.4 TWh) of development options
§1.1 GW secured, 1.2 GW in advanced prospects, further battery site acquired
§North Island focus, flexibility on South Island options maintained
2023
1.4 GW
0.8 GW
0.2 GW
20252026202720282029203020242040
Ru!k!k!
(100 MW)
Ru!k!k!
(75 MW)
Mt Munro
(60 MW)
T!r!n!ki
(200 MW)
T!r!n!ki
(100 MW)
Auckl!nd
(350 MW)
M!n!w!tu
(150 MW)
H!wke’s B!y
(100 MW)
Secured
options
(150 MW)
Secured
options
(210 MW)
Secured
options
(100 MW)
Adv!nced
prospects
(750 MW)
Adv!nced
prospects
(100 MW)

19
Green hydrogen
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
final
responses
and
selection
commercial
development
final
investment
decision

20
Evolving our customer approach
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Acceler!te Energy Innov!tion
2025 Dr!ft
Outcomes
Ret!il to 30% of
homes/businesses
with !n EV
Grow ret!il m!rket
sh!re by h!ving 5,000
customers signed up to
our EV offers
Recommend!tion
on Residenti!l sol!r
!nd sc!ling of
Commerci!l sol!r by
31 December 2022
30MW of dem!nd
flexibility !nd 600GWh
under MOUs by
30 June 2023
VPP pilot complete
!nd recommend!tions
for sc!ling by
31 M!rch 2023
Ret!il to or oper!te
30% of distributed
sol!r in New Ze!l!nd
50MW of flexibility
!nd 600GWh of
new dem!nd
Utility sc!le VPP/DF
!sset by 2025
FY23
Objectives
Tr!nspor tDistributed
Gen/Stor!ge
Process He!tDem!nd Flexibility
VPP
Predict
Optimise
Aggreg!te
To energy solutions that enable customers to decarbonise

21
Shareholder questions
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Maintenance teams at Meridian’s Benmore hydro station in the South Island’s Waitaki District

22
Resolutions and voting
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
TūīCorridor native planting at Christchurch Adventure Park, ŌtautahiChristchurch

23
Resolution 1
Re-election of Michelle Henderson
That Michelle Henderson, who retires
by rotation and is eligible for re-
election, be re-elected as a Director of
the Company
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

24
Resolution 2
Re-election of Julia Hoare
That Julia Hoare, who retires by
rotation and is eligible for re-election,
be re-elected as a Director of the
Company
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

25
Resolution 3
Re-election of NagajaSanatkumar
That NagajaSanatkumar, who retires
by rotation and is eligible for re-
election, be re-elected as a Director of
the Company
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

26
Resolution 4
Election of Graham Cockroft
That Graham Cockroft(appointed as
a Director of the Company by the
Board with effect from 26 July 2022),
who retires and is eligible for election,
be elected as a Director of the
Company
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING

27
Vote totals
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
1
Votes held by the Chair, Directors and other proxies
Resolution 1:Resolution 2:Resolution 3:Resolution 4:
Re-election of
Michelle Henderson
Re-election of
Julia Hoare
Re-election of
Nagaja Sanatkumar
Election of
Graham Cockroft
Postal and online votes already cast
For1,921,002,4801,861,846,9751,927,348,8081,935,507,026
Against14,994,42874,132,9408,514,021478,544
Abstain193,702194,946279,199169,776
Votes appointed to proxies not yet cast
1
8,184,5398,200,2888,233,1218,219,803
Total1,944,375,1491,944,375,1491,944,375,1491,944,375,149

28
Closing
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING
Lake Manapōuri, Fiordland National Park, Southland

29
Disclaimer
The information in this presentation was prepared by Meridian
Energy with due care and attention. However, the information is
supplied in summary form and is therefore not necessarily complete,
and no representation is made as to the accuracy, completeness or
reliability of the information. In addition, neither the company nor
any of its directors, employees, shareholders nor any other person
shall have liability whatsoever to any person for any loss (including,
without limitation, arising from any fault or negligence) arising from
this presentation or any information supplied in connection with it.
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements and
projections. These reflect Meridian’s current expectations, based on
what it thinks are reasonable assumptions. Meridian gives no
warranty or representation as to its future financial performance or
any future matter. Except as required by law or NZX or ASX listing
rules, Meridian is not obliged to update this presentation after its
release, even if things change materially.
This presentation does not constitute financial advice. Further, this
presentation is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or
a solicitation of an offer to buy Meridian Energy securities and may
not be relied upon in connection with any purchase of Meridian
Energy securities.
This presentation contains a number ofnon-GAAP financial
measures, including Energy Margin, EBITDAF, Underlying NPAT and
gearing. Because they are not defined by GAAP or IFRS, Meridian's
calculation of these measures may differ from similarly titled
measures presented by other companies and they should not be
considered in isolation from, or construed as an alternative to, other
financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. Although
Meridian believes they provide useful information in measuring the
financial performance and condition of Meridian's business, readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these non-GAAP
financial measures.
The information contained in this presentation should be considered
in conjunction with the company’s financial statements, which are
included in Meridian’s integrated report for the year ended 30 June
2022 and is available at:
www.meridianenergy.co.nz/investors
All currency amounts are in New Zealand dollars unless stated
otherwise.
18 OCTOBER 20222022 ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING